Joyce Sikakane

She was born in South Africa [in 1943] and brought up in the Orlando district of Soweto. After completing her secondary education, she worked as a reporter for The World, a newspaper run by Whites for the Black community. She then became the first Black woman employed by the Rand Daily Mail. She fell in love with a Scottish doctor, Kenneth Rankin, a liaison then illegal since they were of different races. They were engaged at the time he left the country and she planned to join him, but she was arrested on charges of political subversion and was detained for seventeen months, trial following trial until she was finally acquitted. In 1973 she left for Zambia, where she was reunited with her fiancé, whom she had not seen for four years. TheyShe was born in South Africa [in 1943] and brought up in the Orlando district of Soweto. After completing her secondary education, she worked as a reporter for The World, a newspaper run by Whites for the Black community. She then became the first Black woman employed by the Rand Daily Mail. She fell in love with a Scottish doctor, Kenneth Rankin, a liaison then illegal since they were of different races. They were engaged at the time he left the country and she planned to join him, but she was arrested on charges of political subversion and was detained for seventeen months, trial following trial until she was finally acquitted. In 1973 she left for Zambia, where she was reunited with her fiancé, whom she had not seen for four years. They married and subsequently lived in Scotland. An active anti-apartheid campaigner, she is a member of the African National Congress and is currently based in Zimbabwe.